London Spitfire’s Journey To The First-Ever OWL Grand Finals

Posted 26th July 2018 By: Derpina&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp1 Views

Esports News – London Spitfire currently holds the ninth rank in July’s Overwatch League standings. This ranking helps determine the six teams qualified for the Playoffs using their regular season records, and it seemed like Spitfire doesn’t have a chance to be included in the lineup. But the team defeated Los Angeles Valiant in their recent face-off, upsetting the ranking and proving that they are Europe’s only pro Overwatch team.

Spitfire will now face 6th placer Philadelphia Fusion for a spot in the grand final and for a portion of the $1M prize pool. At a glance, Fusion won three out of 5 matchups as opposed to Spitfire. But after a series of impressive wins, many are expecting Spitfire to become the first OWL champion.

From underdog to favorite

With a relatively low 4-6 final quarter, Spitfire didn’t have a chance to be called as one of the leading teams in the regular season of the competition. But in the past weeks, the team have finally balanced everything, especially after their 0-3 defeat at the hands of Los Angeles Gladiators. Spitfire returned with an improved determination and pulled off a victory with two perfect 3-0 wins over the Gladiators.

Following the comeback victory, another west coast team stepped into the arena to face Spitfire. Los Angeles Valiant was the 2nd team to push Spitfire closer to the grand finals as the winning team easily took the lead and earned 3-1 and 3-0 winnings streaks with the help of their DPS player, Kim ‘birdring’ Ji-hyeok.

The final battle for the last spot in the grand finals is now between Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion, another team that upset the rankings after beating New York Excelsior. This determines the fate of Spitfire throughout the competition, but one thing is for sure: they are now the heavy favorites. Spitfire’s main tank and standout player, Hong ‘Gesture’ Jae-hee, even said: “based on the matches we’ve played so far, we showed really clean and decisive victories against our opponents. I don’t think we should be considered underdogs anymore.”

The concluding match

The entire tournament ends on July 28th, Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The inaugural champion is decided with a best-of-three match between London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion, starting at 00:00 BST (Friday, July 27th, 16:00 PDT) and returning at 21:00 (13:30 PDT). If a third match is necessary, the match will be back at 23:00.